Fox - Cadet to Commander
by padawanahsokatano
Summary: This is the story of how Commander Fox, a background character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, went from a young clone cadet to a weathered, experienced commander.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Master Yoda," the black Jedi began, speaking to the small green alien staring out the large window onto the streets of Coruscant. "With this large number of troops, the other members of the Council are saying we need a better way to distinguish them besides a number. Some have even been labeled with names." He hoped the small Jedi would get his point, so he wouldn't have to speak any longer. But the Jedi stayed motionless, so he continued, nervously swinging his lightsaber on his belt.

"We should begin finding names for all of them. Most are already named anyway. Most of the ones unnamed are right here, on the Guard. Should we-"

The green Jedi, who had been as still as a statue, spoke. "Nervous you are, hmm, Master Windu?"

Windu knew it wasn't the Jedi way to be proud, but he still hated to admit being nervous or scared. "Your feelings do not betray you, Master Yoda."

Yoda chuckled. "No need to be nervous, you have. The troops to be more distinguished, a good idea, that is. Let them be named, we shall."


	2. Chapter 1

The sounds of battle were all around him. Quietly, he was sneaking behind piles of rubble, unknown to the enemy. They'd sent him to do a job. An important one, key to a Republic victory, but a dangerous one nonetheless.

As he quietly tiptoed through the battlefield, he winced every time he heard one of his brothers scream in pain or agony, hoping it wasn't Jeb. He hated to say he had a favorite brother, but there were so many, it was hard to help it.

He was so lost in thought, he didn't realize it was there until he walked into it.

The large cylinder was pretty noticeable, although the droids just probably thought it was a fallen column from a building or something.

He searched around it, finally finding a small control panel covered by a thin sheet of glass. He lifted his arm up, and went to smash it with his armor.

He smashed it, but as it shattered he felt a searing pain. He had missed, and smashed it with the small patch of body suit under his armor.

He pulled out a few of the large pieces of glass, throwing them aside in disgust. His first battle, and he doesn't get injured by a blaster or detonator, but by missing with his elbow.

He began to work, ignoring the pain. After what seemed like years of tedious button pressing and wire connecting, he was finally done. Now he remembered what he was supposed to do when he was done with this part- run.

He pulled out his pistol, and ran as fast as he could, not worrying about stealth, but speed. He raised his wrist to his helmet and began to speak.

"General Kenobi, it's been rigged."

"Great job. I'll order everyone back. Get on the ship as quickly as possible so we can get out of here."

"Copy that, General." he responded, and continued to run. He heard calls of retreat to and from his brothers. As one ran, he saw a battle droid aim at the clone's back.

"Clankers." he mumbled through clenched teeth. He aimed at the droid, and shot at it's head. The beam of bright blue light made its mark. It fell over, making a satisfying thud as it hit the ground.

He smiled, and kept running. He looked ahead, and saw the shuttles. Almost all of them were gone except for the one he was supposed to enter, with General Kenobi standing in the open door.

The solider quickly went inside, and collapsed from exhaustion and pain. He looked up, and his commander smiled. General Kenobi knelt down. "What's your name?"

He looked up. "CT-1010."

The general smiled kindly. "I won't remember that. Tell me your _name._"

"I... guess I don't have one, sir."

The general stood up. "Well, your fast, I just saw you run, and being able to do that job on your first battle must mean you're cunning and stealthy. How about..."

"Fox?" the commander next to Kenobi suggested."

Kenobi looked to the clone. "Do _you _like it?"

Fox just smiled. "Fox it is."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What?" Fox said, gasping. "That's impossible. I just made it through my first battle! There's a clone I just met today, and he's gone through 5 battles, but he's still a cadet! My friend Jeb has gone through countless battles, and he's still a ser-"

"We know it sounds ridiculous, Fox," Kenobi said, cutting him off. "But it's not. You have just proven yourself to be fast, strong, smart, and a good improvisor. Those are skills some of our captains and commanders are still improving upon."

"Sergeant you now are," Yoda said sternly. "Barracks Number 90907, are yours. Comfortable, you will be."

Fox, remembering his duty, knew not to question them any further. "Yes sir." he sighed, and then walked out to find his new his barracks.

"90898...90899...90900...90901...90902...90903...90904...90895...90896... Ah, here we go, 90907." The new sergeant stepped into his quarters. Inside were about nine troopers. They all stood up and saluted.

"Hello, men." Fox began. "I'm your new sergeant." _Bantha dung! _he thought. _So much for trying to sound smart. 'I'm your new sergeant!' Way to state the obvious, Fox._

"First," he began. "Give me your number, and then your name." He stepped to the first trooper. He had two red stripes down his head, a fairly popular style among the troopers.

"My number's CT-4352, sir, but they call me Jek."

He went down the line. There were nine troopers, by the names of Jek, Lyon, Wasp, Hawk, Shine, Scratch, Blast, Dropper, and Fry. He felt embarrassed. Their armor was covered in dirt that no amount of scrubbing could remove, and some even had blaster marks on their arms and legs. One of them had one through his chest. How he survived it, Fox would never know. His armor was perfectly clean and white, with some dried blood on his right elbow.

He shook these thoughts away. "Our shift starts when 90895 and 90896 get back. So, just clean your weapon and wait. We'll head out with 90898, so get some rest."

The men began to talk while Fox sat quietly. He decided to ask them about THEIR names. They already knew how he got his name, but he didn't know how they got their names. He decided to go around, and ask them.

He approached where Lyon and Dropper were talking. Lyon certainly lived up to his name, with a bleached blonde head of somewhat long hair. Dropper, like Fox, had the standard black cut. He sat down next to them. "So, how exactly did you two get your names?"

Lyon snickered a little bit. "My name? I'm fierce. Unless I have orders not to do so, I charge right into battle. They wanted to call me Lion, L-I-O-N, but I'm just the littlest bit rebellious. So, of course, I changed it to Lyon, L-Y-O-N."

"And you, Dropper?"

Dropper shrugged. I don't run out of ammo as much because I'm a careful, good shot. I make the droids, um, _drop._"

"Thanks, men. I want to get to know each of you personally." He moved on to Jek and Blast. He learned a lot about all of his troops. Jek was called Jek, because when he was a shiny and before he had a name, his close brother was named Jek. When he died in a battle on Dantooine, Jek took on the name in his honor. Blast, the exact opposite of Dropper, runs out of ammo all of the time because he shoots constantly in battles. Hawk got his name because he doesn't always like the front lines. He likes to stay up above them and pick them off. Wasp is called Wasp because he "zips around and stings like a wasp." His style is, as Hawk describes it, 'less shooting, more kicking punching, and ripping off droid heads." Shine shines his blaster to perfection after every battle. Scratch is a messy pilot, and always leaves a scratch or two on speeders and ships. Fry hits the power surges on droids and watches them get "fried."

"So you guys were all on the battlefield before the Guard, I take it." Fox asked.

"Yep."

Fox thought that all of their stories were very interesting. He loved learning more about the experiences of other troopers. He thought someday, he would be more experienced, he would move up in the ranks, like becoming a captain or commander. _Commander Fox_, he thought. _I like the sound of it already. _He was so busy fantasizing, that he was quickly startled by the sound of a knocking on the door.

"Alright, men." he said. "It's our turn to go patrol. Line up, single file." They quickly lined up, and immediately, Fox felt stupid. They were all more experienced than him, they knew what to do! Here he was, telling them how to do everything. The roles should have been switched!

He swallowed. "Out we go." They all marched in a V-shaped formation, joining with 90898.

This was his first "mission" as a sergeant.

And he was terrified.

There were so many possibilities of what could happen on this patrol. He could mess up; that could result in everyone dead. Then he would be stripped of his rank.

_Think, _he thought. _It's just a patrol. Just copy the other sergeant. You'll be fine. Nothing happens on the Guard. Nothing ever happens. Just stay calm, nothing will go wrong. _

How wrong he was.

As he moved to the landing platform with his men and the men of the other barracks, he couldn't stop his stomach from twisting into knots.

_Just breathe deeply, _he reminded himself. _Everything will be okay. Just breathe deeply. Everything will be fine. Just breathe-_

He must have seemed nervous, because the sergeant of 90898 quietly nudged him. "Nervous?" he whispered.

Fox was lucky he was wearing a helmet. "A little."

The other sergeant laughed, but abruptly and quietly. "Don't worry, you're fine. Nothing ever happens on this post, Sergeant… I didn't quite catch you're name."

"Fox." he said, and a swell of pride came with the word. "The name's Fox."

"I'm Scar."

"Scar?"

"Wampa attack on Hoth." Scar said, lifting his helmet to reveal a long scar down his face.

Fox was in awe. "Did it hurt?" he whispered.

Scar put his helmet back on. "Well, you're one for stupid questions. What do you think?"

Fox couldn't believe he had asked such a dumb question. Of course it hurt! "Sorry." he apologized.

"It's fine."

They walked in silence until they finally reached the landing platform. Standing around, Fox realized that Scar truly was right. Nothing ever happens on the Guard!

First impressions are often wrong, you know.

It was calm and quiet, when we attacked. 20 clones guarded the platform. 2 sergeants stood, marked by streaks of dark red paint and emblems of black, but one seemed freshly painted. 18 others were with them, marked for the Coruscant Guard, but not as any sort of leader. I silently crouched on my perch. I looked to the other perch, where I saw her. She was an extreme pale white, with locks of bright red hair pulled tight in a pony tail atop her head. I gave the signal. She fired several times. One down should be enough of a distraction. Too bad it had to be one of their sergeants.

Now, Fox was almost happy to be on the Guard. Nothing happened. How ironic it was, that when he thinking that, when something happened. Can you imagine the thoughts, running through his mind, when- Perhaps I could tell you better this way...

As Fox stood, learning different emergency tactics from Scar, a blast from a sniper rifle shot emerged seemingly out of nowhere, striking the ground in front of himself and Scar, only inches away from their feet.

"Split up!" Scar shouted! Both Fox and Scar ran in different directions, when another shot came, striking Fox in the knee. A searing pain shot through his entire leg as he fell. Blast and Scratch quickly darted over and helped him get behind the cargo boxes on the landing platform for cover. Several more shots followed. These didn't head towards Fox's direction, but towards the other side of the platform.

This seemed to alarm Dropper. "Is everyone okay?" he yelled.

"I'm sure everything is alright." Fox was reassuring himself more than anybody else.

We shot our cables down and slid onto the platform next to the clones'. We ignored them. They ignored us. We were quiet, and they were distracted with two wounded sergeants. Well, one wounded sergeant, I should say. Perfect. Everything was going as planned.

Blast looked around the platform, scouting out the nearest surroundings. "I don't see anyone!"

Hawk used the scope on his blaster to check the rooftops around them. "Nothing anywhere else too."

Lyon was obviously frustrated. "Well then where did it come from?"

"I don't know!" This was Fry. "But we've got wounded! Someone go alert the others, and we'll stay back here."

A couple clones from Scar's squad left to alert the Council, or any Jedi General they saw first. Fox cringed as he sat up against the boxes. "Who else is wounded? How many do we have? Will we be able to get medics?"

"Your the only one in our squad, sir." Scratch replied. "But I don't know about the-"

"We could use some help over here!" A clone called on the other side of the platform.

"Quick." Fox answered. "Help me up. Get me over there." Scratch helped Fox get over to where Scar was surrounded by 3 other clones.

"What happened?" Fox asked. He was confused. He didn't see any blast marks anywhere. He looked fine. "Is he okay?"

One of the clones took off Scars helmet and handed it to Fox. He felt the back of it, and turned it around. A whole in the back from a blaster was there, the edges still glowing.

Fox couldn't believe it. "No…" A new friend lost. He knew it was war, but he just wasn't sure these were droids.

Fox stood up, pain shooting up and down through his leg. He removed his helmet. The others did the same. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity until the medics arrived. They took Fox to the medical room on a stretcher to fix his leg. He watched the doors close as he went inside, obscuring his view of Scar and his brothers.

_Nothing ever happens on the patrol, huh?_ He thought bitterly.


End file.
